BLOGGER CONFERENCE CALL WITH McCAIN: This morning I was fortunate enough to be included on a conference call with John McCain. No headlines were made, but I was definitely struck by the vehemence with which the Senator from Arizona denounced the Democratic timeline for withdrawal from Iraq.

What I heard was very close to anger and disgust, which I have not seen from McCain in many, many interviews on Sunday morning talk shows and other mainstream media spots (although he is known for his temper in private). The Senator was simply outraged that the Democrats were insisting that we give up the fight before the surge has had a chance to work.

The participants in the conference call were mostly conservative bloggers, although not necessarily McCain supporters. The tone of the questions was generally supportive. Reactions were also positive. At the Corner, K.Lo commented that:

The senator clearly wants right-wing bloggers to feel like one of the McCainaic guys on the bus. And with candid answers to unscripted questions that would appear throughout the blogopshere minutes later…it sure didn’t hurt him.

He clearly enjoys bandying with people, including many who opposed him. Indeed, this is the first conference call with a major politician I’ve been on where people from the other party were invited to participate.

I'm sorry to hear that Senator McCain is upset with the democrats..but the truth is it was bound to happen. If it wasn't going to happen this presidential term, then it was next term.

More importantly, now we can concentrate more on issues that really matter to us. We can spend the resources from the war on such important issues as global poverty. 191 global leaders made an agreement known as the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 and we should hold our govenment accountable to them. According to the Borgen Project, only $19 billion is needed to feed the world for a year.

We didn't provide enough troops when we invaded Iraq because President Bush was unwilling to ask the American people to make the necessary sacrifices. The Republicans were unwilling to pressure him to add more troops because they really, really wanted to win the 2004 and 2006 elections. For the same reason, they refused to criticize obviously stupid decisions, like disbanding Saddam's army and firing all Baathist officials. As a result, the war is lost, and the only sensible choice to make now is to get out. Insulting the Democrats doesn't change this.